Brick Superintendent Walter Uszenski had charges of official misconduct and theft thrown out by a judge earlier this year. Now he's suing the school district, township and Ocean County Prosecutor.(Photo: Courtesy of the Ocean County Prosecutor)

BRICK – The suspended Brick Township Public Schools superintendent and his daughter, against whom a judge earlier this year dismissed a multi-count criminal indictment, plan to sue the school district, the township and the county prosecutor who brought charges against them, according to a tort claim.

Superintendent Walter Uszenski, 65, of Manasquan and his daughter Jacqueline Halsey, according to the claim filed by the pair, are seeking $20 million each in damages, as well as $20 million for Uszenski's young grandson, after a judge dismissed charges that they conspired to get educational services for the child.

Uszenski and Halsey were named in a 19-count indictment that accused them, among other things, of participating in a criminal plot to obtain special educational and transportation services for Uszenski's grandchild, services the county prosecutor said the child was not entitled to receive.

The indictment alleged Uszenski hired a consultant to do a bogus audit to further his and his daughter's efforts to get daycare and special services for the child at taxpayer's expense.

But in February, Superior Court Judge Patricia B. Roe threw out all but three counts of the indictment, including all of the charges faced by Uszenski and his daughter. The judge characterized the information put before the grand jury as half-truths, speculation, and “wholly unsupported by the facts and the evidence within the possession of the prosecutor."

Roe also noted that documentation of the grandchild's behavioral issues go back to age 3, before the criminal case began, and that the audit was justified because of a $750,000 shortfall in the department.

The three charges that remain from the case relate to Andrew Morgan, the former interim director of special services, and his wife Lorraine Morgan, the former district academic officer, who the prosecutor said were involved in the alleged conspiracy.

Andrew Morgan still faces a charge of false swearing. He allegedly lied on his job application to the Brick Board of Education when he said he had no criminal record and was never asked to resign a prior position. He also faces a charge of theft by deception — for obtaining compensation from the Brick school board by allegedly lying about his criminal record. Roe noted that Andrew Morgan was convicted in New York in 1990 and imprisoned for selling a controlled dangerous substance.

Lorraine Morgan was charged with official misconduct for her role in approving payment of $149 for counseling services provided to Halsey's son.

Neil Mullin of the law firm Smith Mullin of Montclair — who represents Uszenski, Halsey and Uszenski's grandchild — notified the Brick Board of Education and a school staff in April of his intent to sue.

The tort claim said the attorney also planned to sue Brick Township, Brick Mayor John G. Ducey and the township's Business Administrator Joanne Bergen, as well as Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato and his staff.

Mullin, in the claim, said Uszenski and his daughter are victims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, educational malpractice in serving the educational needs of the child, trade libel and defamation. Uszenski is also claiming "tortious interference" with his employment contract as Brick schools superintendent, where he is suspended without pay from his $177,500 per year job.

Ducey, Brick's mayor, and Bergen, the business administrator, are named in the claim because they met with the county prosecutor to discuss the school chief’s grandson being driven to a private day care on a public school bus.

The claim alleges Executive Assistant Prosecutor Michel A. Paulhus "knowingly and deliberately" failed to present evidence to the grand jury that would have exonerated Uszenski and his daughter, like the child's behavioral records and expert recommendations as well as documentation of the special education department's deficits.

Uszenski was arrested in May 2015 at the Brick Board of Education's administrative offices. Halsey was served a summons at her former home in Brick. She has since moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The family, as a result, suffered financial losses, reputational damage, emotional distress, and physical pain and suffering as a result of the ordeal, according to their claim.

The child has also suffered "irreparable harm caused... by the failure of the respondents to provide him with a proper education."

"I think this is a tragedy for an entire wing of his (Uszenski's) family," said Mullin. "It’s shocking that the prosecutor is still making threats. And I intend to fight this all the way to get justice for Walter and his daughter and his disabled grandson."

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, said the prosecutor is continuing to evaluate the case and will decide how to move forward.